New Kemang Diner Serves Up a Breakfast of Champions

Good news for late risers and breakfast lovers. Not only is there a new restaurant serving all-day breakfast, but diners have the luxury of choosing from more than 10 international breakfast menus.

Lulo, at the Kemang Arcade building in South Jakarta, opened for business about two weeks ago and is already creating quite the breakfast buzz. What really sets the place apart is its selection of English, Polish, Scandinavian, French, Swiss, German, Belgian, Philadelphian, New Yorker, Spanish, Indonesian, Korean and Japanese breakfasts.

Located on the ground floor, Lulo will certainly catch the attention of any bleary-eyed breakfast seekers with its bright yellow doors. The music inside is relaxed during the day and increasingly upbeat as darkness descends, courtesy of two well-known local disc jockeys — DJ Riri Mestika and DJ Winky Wiryawan — who are among the 12 owners behind the venture.

While the dining area has kind of a soft, feminine look with colorful lamps, wooden furniture and a Wanderlust-themed decor, the bar area at the back is dimly lit with large sofas lurking in the corners.

Kenes Andari, one of the owners and the wife of DJ Winky, said Lulo specialized not just in traditional breakfast dishes but also in fusion food.

“We know there are people who get up late in the day but still want to have breakfast,” Kenes said. “Right now we open at 11 a.m., but as soon as everything is running smoothly, we will start opening at 7 a.m.”

Kenes said they were proud of their East-meets-West menu. For example, they offer chicken noodle soup topped with foie gras, smoked salmon rolls wrapped with roti jala (traditional Indonesian bread) and dori fish fillet with sambal matah from Bali.

If you’re in the mood for something savory, the French breakfast might be a good choice. It offers two pieces of round toasted bread topped with spinach, hollandaise sauce and eggs Benedict, with sauteed mushrooms and beef ham.

And there’s plenty more to choose from, whether it’s the New York bagel with lox, the Belgian mixed fruit waffles with maple syrup, Indonesian fried rice with grilled wagyu beef or English sunny-side up eggs with hash browns, baked beans, sausage and mushroom.

The mozzarella fritter makes a nice starter to any meal. You can eat the fritters plain or try the tomato dip. Be warned, though, that the dip may be too bland for Indonesian palates.

Another favorite among the starters is the smoked salmon rolls. If you are familiar with salmon rolls from sushi restaurants, you might be surprised: the homemade roti jala adds an unexpected twist to the dish. People are used to eating roti jala by pouring thick curry over it, but it also makes a good wrap for smoked salmon with mayonnaise, especially when dipped in soy sauce.

If you are up for something spicy, try the rice with dori fish fillet and sambal matah. The spicy Balinese sauce, made mostly from oil and shallots, is difficult to get in Jakarta restaurants, and Lulo offers a generous helping, topping the fillet with the sauce as well as providing some on the side.

The sambal matah is quite spicy, even by Indonesian standards. If you can’t handle spicy, you may want to ask the waitress to keep the fish fillet sauce-free.

Lulo also serves two of the most popular cakes in town right now: the red velvet and the rainbow cake. The rainbow cake is moist and comes with savory cream cheese, while the red velvet is rich with just the right amount of sweetness. For dessert, try the homemade Thai iced tea ice cream; a milky Thai iced tea-flavored ice cream that melts on the tongue.

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